The birds

Sunday

Sep 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM

While driving to my friend's home near Wilkes-Barre, I was quite impressed to see a beautiful double rainbow arching across the east side of the Susquehanna River shortly before dusk. I don't remember seeing many rainbows in September, so I enjoyed the quickly fading display.

While driving to my friend's home near Wilkes-Barre, I was quite impressed to see a beautiful double rainbow arching across the east side of the Susquehanna River shortly before dusk. I don't remember seeing many rainbows in September, so I enjoyed the quickly fading display.

Little did I know that the multicolored rainbow was only a preview to the main event.

As I turned onto my friend's street, I could not believe my eyes as dozens of large birds swarmed over his home, nestled within a crowded neighborhood. The birds were swooping and swerving in reckless abandon above the roof, over the yard and dangerously close to utility lines. It was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film "The Birds," which brought back an eerie childhood memory of that classic horror film.

It was the most bizarre sight — a paroxysm of fury above his home that contrasted oddly with the peaceable demeanor of the quiet neighborhood. However, the avian attackers were not the terrorizing seabirds that caused a epidemic of ornithophobia to viewers of Hitchcock's classic, but harmless common nighthawks assaulting swarms of insects congregating above my friend's home and yard.

Common nighthawks are average-sized birds with a body of cryptic feathers colored gray, brown and white. They resemble hawks, but the head and beak are noticeably small compared to its large black eyes. Common nighthawks exhibit extended, forked tails and very long, pointed wings with a eye-catching white band near the tip of each wing.

They are fascinating birds with interesting descriptions and peculiar mannerisms. Aside from its common name, common nighthawks are not hawks and unfortunately are not common.

In the air they resemble fast-flying falcons and soar like the most graceful swallow. There are crepuscular birds and pursue flying insects just like bats. However, instead of using sonar or echolocation to find food, common nighthawks use their wide, gaping mouths as they swoop and scoop up flying insects like a baleen whale filtering krill.

They make nasally peent calls like an American woodcock. Furthermore, courting and territorial males create an incredible booming noise caused by vibrating wings during G-force turns similar to a fighter jet.

They even perch in the most peculiar way: Instead of the typical perpendicular position on a branch or limb, the common nighthawk perches parallel with the branch and becomes invisible because of its cryptic coloration. They don't make nests but lay eggs in dirt, sand, rocks, even on gravel rooftops.

Common nighthawks are not as common compared to decades ago. Loss of habitat from development and natural forest transition has led to declines as well as widespread pesticide spraying for black-flies and flying insects — their preferred food.

They are neotropical migrants and travel well down into South America, thus having one of the longest migration routes of any North American bird. Common nighthawks begin their southerly migration in late August into early September. They often migrate in flocks that can be seen at dusk.

I have witness several hundred common nighthawks migrating over the Susquehanna River during one late-August day, but what I witnessed at my friend's home was creepy-strange. I grabbed my camera and tried to take photos of the aerial dive bombers. It was nearly impossible to follow the birds and focus. As soon as I set sights on an individual nighthawk, it would astonishingly veer out of focus.

I never saw what insects they were capturing, but noticed several large dragonflies hunting among the birds. It must have been a bug buffet above the home, and it was a Hitchcock-like event that will bug me for quite some time.

I didn't discover a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow, but a fury of feathers that was a treasure worth remembering.

Contact Rick Koval at pocononaturalist@yahoo.com or write to him at PO Box 454, Dallas, PA 18612.

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